Validity Of The Memtrax Memory Test Compared To The Montreal Cognitive Assessment In The Detection Of Mild Cognitive Impairment And Dementia Due To Alzheimer'S Disease In A Chinese Cohort

Background: A valid, reliable, accessible, engaging, and affordable digital cognitive screen instrument for clinical use is in urgent demand.Objective: To assess the clinical utility of the MemTrax memory test for early detection of cognitive impairment in a Chinese cohort.Methods: The 2.5-minute MemTrax and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were performed by 50 clinically diagnosed cognitively normal (CON), 50 mild cognitive impairment due to AD (MCI-AD), and 50 Alzheimer's disease (AD) volunteer participants. The percentage of correct responses (MTx-%C), the mean response time (MTx-RT), and the composite scores (MTx-Cp) of Mem Trax and the MoCA scores were comparatively analyzed and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves generated.Results: Multivariate linear regression analyses indicated MTx-%C, MTx-Cp, and the MoCA score were significantly lower in MCI-AD versus CON and in AD versus MCI-AD groups (all with p <= 0.001). For the differentiation of MCI-AD from CON, an optimized MTx-%C cutoff of 81% had 72% sensitivity and 84% specificity with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.839, whereas the MoCA score of 23 had 54% sensitivity and 86% specificity with an AUC of 0.740. For the differentiation of AD from MCI-AD, MTx-Cp of 43.0 had 70% sensitivity and 82% specificity with an AUC of 0.799, whereas the MoCA score of 20 had 84% sensitivity and 62% specificity with an AUC of 0.767.Conclusion: MemTrax can effectively detect both clinically diagnosed MCI and AD with better accuracy as compared to the MoCA based on AUCs in a Chinese cohort.